Catherine Stourton, Baroness Stourton (previously Catherine Petre, Baroness Petre, née Walmesley; 6 January 1697 – 31 January 1785), was a rich Lancastrian heiress.

Baroness Petre

Born into a long-established Lancashire family of Catholic landed gentry, she was the daughter of Bartholomew Walmesley and Dorothy Smith. The last of the Walmesleys, she was 13 when she inherited family wealth on the death of her 15-year-old brother Francis. On 1 March 1712, the much sought after bride married Robert Petre, 7th Baron Petre, bringing him a large dowry of £50,000. Lady Petre was an ardent Jacobite who had been considered as a possible spouse for

Bonnie Prince Charlie Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart (31 December 1720 – 30 January 1788) was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, making him the grandson of James VII and II, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, ...

and even James Stuart “the Old Pretender”. The marriage was cut short by Lord Petre's death from

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

a year later. Lady Petre was left pregnant and three months later gave birth to a son named

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...

, who succeeded as 8th Baron immediately on birth.THE PETRES OF DUNKENHALGH

Baroness Stourton

Lady Petre turned down a number of suitors during her son's minority. She was a woman of great charity and is said to have caused embarrassment to both families by cutting up her former husband’s parliamentary robes for distribution to the poor. When her son came of age and got married in 1732, Dowager Lady Petre finally accepted the proposal of Charles Stourton, whose first proposal came on the same day as Lord Petre's. She became Baroness Stourton in 1744 when her husband succeeded his uncle as 15th Baron. Her second marriage was childless and she was again widowed in 1753. Her son having died in 1742, Lady Stourton willed her property to her grandson,

Robert Petre, 9th Baron Petre Robert Edward Petre, 9th Baron Petre (March 1742 – July 1801) was a British Peerage, peer and prominent member of the English Roman Catholic nobility. He hailed from an extraordinarily affluent family and devoted himself to philanthropic ende ...

, including her London home in

Grosvenor Square Grosvenor Square ( ) is a large garden square in the Mayfair district of Westminster, Greater London. It is the centrepiece of the Mayfair property of the Duke of Westminster, and takes its name from the duke's surname "Grosvenor". It was deve ...

.{{cite web , title=Grosvenor Square: Individual Houses built before 1926 Pages 117-166 Survey of London: Volume 40, the Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, Part 2 (The Buildings). , url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol40/pt2/pp117-166 , website=British History Online , publisher=LCC 1980 , access-date=5 December 2022

References

1697 births 1785 deaths English Jacobites

Petre Petre is a surname and given name derived from Peter. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Petre * Charles Petre Eyre (1817–1902), English Roman Catholic prelate * Ion Petre Stoican (circa 1930–1990), Romanian vi ...

Catherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...